Tears and Cheers: NASA Shuttle's Swan Song Brings Strong Emotions

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The final launch of NASA's storied space
shuttle program left seasoned flight engineers scrambling for the
right words — and wiping away tears.

The shuttle Atlantis' spectacular
ascent through the clouds late this morning (July 8) was
"awesome," "special" and "truly amazing," mission team members
told reporters at a post-launch press conference here at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center. The blastoff even bent time a little for
Mike Moses, the chief of Atlantis' mission management team.

Atlantis' launch was the last one ever for
NASA's shuttle program after 30 years of operation. In the
past three decades, the shuttle has become an American icon, a
symbol of the nation's pride, technological know-how and
leadership in space.

Despite the odds, the mission team decided to fuel up the
shuttle's massive external tank early this morning. It turned out
to be a good move; the predicted showers and thunderstorms never
materialized, and Atlantis was cleared to launch on its 12-day
mission to the International Space Station.

But then, just 31 seconds before the shuttle was to take to the
skies, the countdown clock stopped. As Atlantis' 10-minute launch
window seemed to melt away, the mission team investigated the
cause of the hold. Ground crews quickly verified that a vent arm
at the top of the shuttle was fully retracted, and that it thus
posed no danger to the vehicle.

The mission, called STS-135, is the 33rd flight of Atlantis and
the 135th in the history of NASA's shuttle program. NASA
estimated that between 750,000 and 1 million people came to see
Atlantis off.

Leinbach said he got choked up during the launch, as did Moses.
And the mission team lingered for a while in the control room,
not wanting to say goodbye to each other or to their work
getting shuttles off the planet.

"It seemed like we didn't want to leave," Leinbach said. "You
just want to hang around a little bit longer and relish our
friends and what we've accomplished."

The end of an era?

NASA will never launch another shuttle to the space station, or
to anywhere at all. But this development shouldn't be seen as the
end of an era, officials said. Rather, it's a transition to
something new and exciting, they added.

NASA will rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport
astronauts to low-Earth orbit for the next few years. But over
the long haul, the agency is counting on American private
spaceflight firms to take over this taxi service. To this end,
NASA is encouraging these companies to develop their own crewed
spaceships.

NASA, for its part, is casting its gaze farther afield. President
Obama has charged the agency with sending astronauts to an
asteroid by 2025, then on to Mars by the mid-2030s.

"Some say that this final shuttle mission will mark the end of
America's 50 years of dominance in human spaceflight," NASA chief
Charlie Bolden said in a video released soon after the launch. "I
want to make clear that American leadership in space will
continue for at least the next half-century, because we laid the
foundation for success."